The Other Woman
by CinnamonDragon
Summary: Colette's feelings about always being "the other woman". One-shot.


**A/N: Just a little piece on Colette's feelings about always being "the other woman", hope you'll like it. Reviews are more than welcome :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Pan Am**_**.**

The Other Woman

When she was a teenager, Colette believed in soulmates and finding her one true love. As she grew older, however, she realised it was not going to happen, at least not to her. And she accepted it with good grace like she did many other things that didn't go according to plan. Life was too precious to be wasted on impossible dreams.

But there were times when she wished she could meet someone who would love her, and only her. She knew that at her age the chance of finding a man whose heart would be free of any earlier affections was very slim but she was not looking for one. She was content to be the third, the tenth or even the fiftieth woman in someone's life but she wanted to be the last one. And she definitely did not want to be "the other woman". Which unfortunately was exactly what happened to her every time she got involved with a man.

First there was Michael. His fiancée had just broken their engagement and Colette was only a distraction. He was still thinking of Grace.

Then there was Paul who was working in Pan Am offices in New York but it turned out he had a girlfriend back home in Alabama.

Simon was dating five girls at the same time and Tom was just searching for a wife that would suit his mother. And John… John was married.

After John she was more guarded. She didn't want to risk being hurt again in the same way. But she couldn't help falling for Dean. It was different. It wasn't just a seductive smile, witty small talk and champagne. They started out as friends and she knew him better than she did any of the other guys. Being around him was easy, fun and it just felt… right. But there had to be a flaw somewhere. Bridget.

This time around she actually knew from the start she would be the other woman in Dean's life. And she knew how much he cared for Bridget and how devastated he was after her disappearance. She was with him that fateful night in Paris when he learned the truth about her being married and she saw how it broke his heart. So how could she throw caution to the wind and let herself be carried along by the wave?

The truth was, she believed Dean's assurances that he was over Bridget because she wanted to believe them. Because she had never felt this way before and she wanted to give it a chance. So she quelled the nagging voice that told her it would be Michael, Paul, Simon, Tom and John all over again and went for it. Only to be deceived once more.

When Bridget came back, Colette knew what she had to do. It was better to get it over quickly and besides, she felt that she should let them have a go at patching things up. After all, she was just "the other woman". As always.

Dean was adamant that Bridget's return meant nothing to him but Colette knew it would always be a blight on their eventual relationship if he didn't straighten things out with her. So she didn't even try to persuade him; she just left him no choice. After he talked with Bridget it seemed the unbelievable had happened, that he was really free at last and Colette was actually daring to hope everything would be okay for once. That is, until she found Dean's cufflink in Bridget's suitcase. She confronted him about it, although she already knew deep down that it was useless. Nothing he could say would make any difference. He hurt her so badly she couldn't even believe she was able to stand there and listen to him. Michael, Paul, Simon, Tom and John combined were nothing compared to this.

But surprisingly it took her only a few days to be her sensible and collected self once more. She discovered that over the years she had learned to cope with heartbreak. It didn't stop hurting but she was able to plan her next steps. And it was clear to her what she had to do to put this matter behind her like all the other disappointments. She was transferring to the Honk Kong hub to maybe find someone, she hoped, who would love only her but most probably to become, once again, some man's other woman.


End file.
